Pride
by MonPetitLoupDeMort
Summary: Pre-game. Guy can't have infinite patience all the time. Frustration and introspection lead to thoughts of a new form of revenge. One-shot.


Guy storms into the room he shares with Pere and shuts the door. He is careful not to slam it, no matter how much he wants to, because servants who attract undue attention are not servants who are retained long.

Seeing Pere already in the room, reading, Guy lets loose on the tirade he has been holding back all day. He is careful that his voice never rises above normal conversation volume despite his anger, keeping it just not loud enough to be heard outside their room.

"He's so useless now-" _helpless_, his mind supplies, unbidden, "Argh! I just want to kill him _now_ and get it done with! I want no more to do with these accursed Fabres!"

Pere shuts his book with a sigh and turns to face him. The patience on his face has never worn thin, not in all the time Guy has known him. Even through love and anger and pain, the patience had always been evident in his bearing, as it is now.

"You know you can't do that yet. Just a little longer, young master."

"You always say that, and I respect your opinion, but _why_? Why is now never the moment to act?"

"Because," and Pere's face turns dark here, deep hatred rising freshly to the surface again, "It's his father you want to hurt. It's his father who did this to us, and who deserves to suffer for it. The boy is merely a vehicle, a tool, towards that suffering. But as he is now, his loss would cause the Duke no great pain, no mortal wound." Pere pauses, to let Guy consider.

And Guy has to agree. The relationship between father and son had been strained, distant, even before the abduction. Now that the newly returned child had no memories, no training, no anything, the Duke wanted nothing to do with him. He might even thank Guy for getting rid of the deadweight before executing him as is only proper. It would give him an excuse to seek another son, one that might be less of a failure than his first, not that he would be hard to surpass.

Seeing the agreement on Guy's face, he continues. "Before you can take your proper revenge, you must help the boy to grow into someone the Duke can be proud of, can come as close to love for as a monster like him can get. Until then, the time to kill him isn't now."

"You're right, as always, Pere. What would I do without you?" The words are easy and carefree, but there's something desperate behind them, because he knows his sanity, rationality would not have remained this long without Pere's guidance and help. Pere smiles and the darkness is gone, sealed away again behind the bonds of love for his young master.

"You'd have a heck of a lot dirtier room, that's for sure. For a servant, you're awful lax about cleaning it."

"Only 'cause I've got you here for me."

They both know it isn't the room he's referring to.

* * *

The only thing is, the more Guy considers it, the more he wants nothing to do with raising a son the Duke can be proud of.

And with this impossibly wonderful chance that has just dropped into his lap, he has the choice to raise Luke any way he wants to. If the Duke had been distant before, he is nonexistent in the boy's life now, and the Lady is too sick to spend much time with her son. All of Luke's teaching and training has been left up to Guy's discretion, after the stellar judgment Guy had been proven to have over and over again.

He ponders every day on what to do with this opportunity, and usually come no closer to his answer.

About a week into his fruitless contemplations he realizes that, between his public duties and private deliberations, Luke is pretty much all he ever thinks about anymore. He doesn't know what he would do with himself anymore if Luke weren't there. And the scariest thing about it is that his first reaction to that realization is not disgust, but a fond feeling of protection.

Guy decides right then that he will be destroying the Duke's son, entirely and completely. But he won't be killing Luke.

He will make Luke into a better man than the Duke. _A better man than himself_, that dark not-quite-voice that hasn't left him alone since his world had ended says, _coming here to kill an innocent child for his father's sins_.

He would make Luke into a good man, a man who could not kill and feel no remorse, a man who would never let another Hod happen.

Guy felt the need to share this reformation somehow, seal it into finality with words. There would be only one person he could tell to make it feel real. Guy breaks into a run to search him out.

As he moves from room to room, he considers the practical ramifications of his new path. Of course, despite the resolve of his mind, he knows that he will still have to work to keep himself from taking every opportunity- and how many there are now- to snuff out that life he has despised for so long.

Maybe if he thinks of this Luke as a new person, separate from the Duke's son that had been kidnapped, maybe then he can keep his fingers from tightening too much around that innocently offered neck when fixing Luke's collar, from holding the unresisting head below the bathwater a few seconds longer.

After finding Luke, in his room as is usual now, Guy skids to a near-graceful halt and the words tumble freely and enthusiastically from his mouth.

"Hey, Luke. Wanna make a bet…?"


End file.
